Evening capital. (Annapolis, Md.) 1884-1910, 1887-01-27
THE INVITATION or THE CHURCH.


Church Last Night.
The following is an extract of the sub
ject discussed at the prayer meeting in
the Presbyterian Church last night, in
which the pastor said:
AS the IsTaelites jOurneyed TO Palestine,
Moses entreated his father-in-law not to
leave them and said, Come thou with us,
and we viii do thee good; for the Lord
hath spoken good concerning Israel. -
Then he says further, And it shall be,
If thou 20 with us. yea, ii shall be, that
what goodness the Lord shall do unto us,
the same will be do unto thee
Moses, saved in a most remarkable
manner in infancy, become the leader of
Gods people. Having become learned in
all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and
having passed through many years of re-
tirement in the wilderness preparatory TO
his great work, he came forth giving
evidence that he was called of God by the
miracles he performed.
The people whom he led were not held
in very high esteem by the Egyptians.
but were the objects of the greatest inter
est TO God, for they were His people
Moses, and Aaron, and Joshua, and some
others were prominent among them, but
the great mass were undistinguished, ex-
of the household of God.
The country to which they were jour
ncying was Palestine. 1t had been de-
scribed as beautiful land, fertile land,
land which flowed with milk and honey.
As the Lord had spoken good con-
corning them, they had great cxpecta-
tons of his favor and blessing in the
future. The history of this people, after
this period, showed that God had not
been unfaithful to any promise he had
! mad them.
The church comes tonight with this
invitation. Her leader, the captain of
our salvation, is greater than the leader
who led the church out of the land of
Egypt. Christ, God manifest in the flesh,
is our leader. He has all power in heaven
and on earth, and can make all things
work together for the good of His people.
He is not only great leader, but proph-
ct 10 reveal TO us the will of God Tor our
salvation, q priest to atone for our sins,
and king to reign in and rule over u.s.
lie unites in his own wonderful person
the wisdom and power of God, and the
feelings of our human nature, sin except
ed He is leading forward His church
on earth, until il shall be perfected in
glory.
Then the company which we ask you
to join, is not this church merely, but the
great church of God, composed of all
who love the Lord Jesus Christ, of all
communions, of all countries, and all
ages. Yea, the good who lived before
the advent of Christ belong to the same
great church, for they believed in the
sacrifice which tYpified Christ, the sacri
fee of sacrifices. 1t is a great company,
composed of patriarchs, and prophets,
and apostles, and martyrs, and all christian
people now upon the earth.
The place to which the church on
earth is going is heaven. What heaven
is we cannot tell. Baxter represents it as
an eternity of holy repose, where God s
people are free from the sins and troubles
of earth. John Howe's conception of it
was, a calm, intellectual eternity, spent in
the beatific vision of God. A being with
Christ throughout eternity was Pauls
idea of it. A great and gorgeous temple
crowded with worshipers, seemed to be
the Apostle Johns idea of it. Take one
of these thoughts of heaven, or combine
them all, and any other scriptural views
of heaven, and the reality will exceed,
far exceed, our thoughts of it. 1t is to
this place, so grand, and so far beyond
our conception of it, TO which we are
journeying.
Now our expectations are great because
the Lord hath spoken good concerning us.
God has purposesof mercy to his church
and he will fulfill all He has said concern.
ing it. We may have the grandest con-
ceptions of the happiness of heaven, and
the reality will exceed it. Since God has
spoken good concerning those that love
him, every longing of the sanctified soul
will be fully met.
We can assure penitent, believing souls
that the goodness which God shows his
children, Hewill show them Therefore,
we come saying to every one, Come thou
with US, and we will do thee good, for
the Lord hath spoken good concerning
Isrrel.
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